Means for raising fluid from deep oil and water wells



Filed Sept. l5, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet l u Ill.

Feb. 25, 1936. c. c. BROWN Er A1. I MEANS FOR RAISING FLUID FROM DEEPOIL AND WATER WELLS Fel 25, 1936 c. c. BROWN ET AL. 2,032,000

MEANS FOR RAISING FLUID FROM-.DEEP OIL AND WATER WELLS Filed Sept. l5,1933 2 Sheeds-Sheet '2 l grafi/hoff,

'Patented Feb. 25, 1936 UNITI-:o vSTATES PATENTA ori-"lcs MEANS FORRAISING FLUID FROM DEE OIL AND WATER WELLS Charley C. Brown, Ponca City,and Samuel N. Van' Wert and Armas Arutunofi, Bartlesville, Okla.,assignors to Reda Pump Company, Bartlesville, Okla., a corporationApplication September 15, 1933, Serial No. 689,532

4 Claims. 4(Cl. 103-46) Our invention consists in new and usefulimprovements Ein mechanism for raising iluid from deepoil and waterrwells and. has for its primary object to provide a. novel combination ofa pump, submergible electric motor, transmission and 1ubricating andprotecting unit, so constructed and arranged that the entire assemblymay be lowered into the well as a single unit.

- Another object of our invention is to provide an Veiiicient. means fortransforming the rotary motion of the vertical shaft of an electricmotor into reciprocating motion of the pump stems.

LA further object of our invention resides in a novel lubricating unitfor insuring the proper lubrication 'of the Working parts of the pumpand for facilitating the protection of the electric motor andtransmission during submersion.

`Stil1 another object of our invention is to provide, in a device ofthis character, means where- '29 by diierent sizes of plungers orpistons and liners may be used and whereby the changing from one size toanother may be accomplished conveniently in the eld.

vA still further object is to provide in a vertical 25 duplex pump foroil wells, an arrangement whereby,-fo r a given well size, plungers of amaximum diameter may be employed. In g other words, larger plungers maybe used than the size normally prescribed by the center distance betweenthe pump stems.

Still another object is to provide an arrangementof cross heads andstationary guides whereby, when it is necessary to unscrew an oldplunger 35 and replace it with a new one, the cross heads are preventedfrom rotating by the stationary guides. lWith the above and otherobjects in view, which will appear as the description proceeds, ourinvention consists in the novel features herein set 4o forth,illustrated in the accompanying drawings and more particularly pointedout in the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings in which numerals of like character designatesimilar parts through- 45 'out the several views:

Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation showing the complete assembly of ourinvention. Y Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the transmissionunit. l 50 Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view taken on line 3-3 ofFig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view of the gearing mechanism taken atright angles to Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional view of themotor 55 and protecting unitshowing at its upper end the point ofconnection with the transmission unit, and

Fig. 6 is an enlarged sectional viewof the pump unit showing at itslower end the point of connection with the transmission unit. 5

Inthe drawings, I represents the housing of an electrical submergiblemotor comprising a stator 2 and a rotor 3. A motor shaft 4 extendsvertically-upwardly and issplined at its upper end to operatively carrya spur gear 5 (Figs. 2 and 3) A 10 which .through the medium ofplanetary gears 6 on pins 1 of a spider, rotates a bevel pinion 9, thelatter in turn operatively engaging a bevel gear I0 carried on thetransverse shaft or axle I I. A gear I2 carried by the axle I I mesheswith an 15 intermediate gear I3 and through it transmits power to atoothed crank shaft gear I4 supported on bearings I5.

The crank shaft gear I4 is formed with d isclike sides I 4a as shown inFig. 2, and is preferably 20 machined out of a solid sphere-likeforging,- the gear, sides and bearings I5 being integral. This gear isoperatively connected by means of connecting rods I6 to cross heads I1which support the lower extremities of pump stems I 8, the latter '25being connected at their upper ends to hollow plungers 2D by means ofsuitable adapters I9 as shown in Fig. 6. It will be noted that thedistance between the centers of the pump stems I8 is .greater than thedistance between the centers of the cross heads I1. This arrangementpermits the combination ina unit of a given outside diameter, themaximum strength of crank mechanism with plungers of a maximum diameter,a feature of greatv importance in handling large volumes of iiuid.

Eachplungerl is equipped with a valve 2|, preferably of the ball type,at Vits upper end and is open to communication with intake passageways22 in the respective adapters I9. The plung- 40 ers 20 are reciprocablymounted in a liner 24 in cylinder block 29, which is enclosed in acylin. drical screen-like casing 3|. The casing 3l is perforated as at32 throughout the greater portion of its area and is closed at its upperextremity by a discharge valve plate 28 connected in any suitable mannerto a discharge connection 21, the latter being provided with valves 25and discharge passageways 26 which converge in communication with acentral discharge conduit. The lower extremity of the casing 3l isclosed by a packing housing 30 having stuffing boxes 34 through whichthe valve stems I8 reciprocate.

The cylinder block 29 is provided with intake ports 33 at its lowerextremity, said ports being 55 located below theperforations 32 in thescreen or casing 3|, whereby a gas separating. action is effected on thefluidentering the screen 3 I The packing housing 30 extends downwardlyfrom the pump unit and is connected by any suitable means to the upperend of the jacket 36 which encloses the gear transmission mechanismheretofore described, said jacket having welded at its upper end a ring35 and cross head guide piece 31 in which the cross heads I 1 operate.The cross head pieces I1 are provided with grooves Ila adapted toengagea stationary key piece 80 in the guide 31, lwhereby the pump stems I8may be screwedv and unscrcwed in the cross heads without eifecting anytorque on the parts below the cross heads.

The whole transmission mechanism 381 (Fig. 2) is tightly enclosed in thejacket 36 with the cross head guide piece 31, crank shaft gear I4 withits bearings I5 and the other associated gears, assembled in asupporting frame made up of two semicircular sections 39 and 39a whichextend longitudinally in the jacket 36. These semicircular sections 39and 39a are assembled in theform of a cylinder and are secured at theirlower ends to a member 40 which houses a. stationary internal gear 4Iwith which the planetary gears 6 are adapted to cooperate.

A member 42 is suitably connected to the member 40 and is in turnconnected to the upper part 44 of a lubricating reservoir 43. Thelubricating reservoir 43 comprises a housing 45 connected to member 44and has a longitudinallly extending central tube 46 which operativelysupports a relatively heavy piston 41, the lower extremity of thehousing being connected to a. bottom piece 48 which also serves as theupper end of the motor unit. The member 48 is provided with a terminaloutlet 49 (Fig. 1) and has a stuiiing box 50 which surrounds the motor,

ber 54 which is preferably in the form of a coly lapsible tube ofsuitable resilient material, said tube being in communication on itsinner side with the oil inthe motor housing, through conduit 55 andpassageway 5I. The outside of the tube 54 is exposed to the lubricant inreservoir 43 and is therefore subjected tothe pressure of the heavypiston 41,. said piston being prevented from coming in direct contactwith member 54 by a suitable stop plate 56. It will be noted that whilewe have shown :and described the breathing member 54 as being in theform of a resilient tube, we may employ different embodiments such forexample as pistons, bellows or the like suitably arranged for effectingthis same function.

A plugged or valved opening 51 in the upper part of the motor housingserves as an oil charging inlet for the motor. A valve 58 is located inthe passageway 52 to control communication through a pipe or tube 59between the lubricant reservoir 43 and the motor chamber. The reservoir43 is also in communication through pipe 59 and valve 58, with a recess6U in the top piece 48 of the motor housing, said recess opening to theexterior through a check valve 18 by means of which lubricating Oil iSforced into the assembly.

\ charge tubing and submerged in the liquid to be bearings, etc.,through the clearance around the Before this unit is set into operation,a cable conduit 6I (Fig. 1) is connected to the terminal outlet 49 andthe motor is lled with transformer oil through valve 51. Valve 58 isopened by unscrewing it to its outermost position, open- 5 ingcommunication through tube 59, between the lubricant reservoir andrecess 60. Lubricating oil is then forced through valvev18.into recess60 from whence it travels upwardly into the clearance between shaft 4and the central tube 56, filling the entire space surrounded by housing45. This filling is continued until oil appears at the air outlet 19 atthe upper end of the transmission, which is then closed by a suitableplug. After closing the outlet 19 the forcing of lubricant is continueduntil piston 41 has been raised by the pressure of the fluid to itsuppermost position, compressing the spring 66 in the upper portion ofthe chamber 45 and iurther forcing of oil becomes difficult. It will benoted that the space in chamber 45 above the piston 41 is nominally incommunication with the exterior by means of a passageway 61 located inthe member 44 forming the top of the lubricating unit.

Anelectrical cable (Fig. l) is attached with its part 64 hermeticallysealed in connection with the end 63 of conduit 6I and the whole unit islowered into the well suspended from the dispumped.

When the motor is started and the pump set into operation, the expansionof the motor oil causes the breathing element 54 in the oil reservoir 43to expand, and when the motor is stopped and oil cools, the breathingelement 54 contracts therewith. With this arrangement it will be seenthat at all times the pressure in the motorvchamber and in thetransmission chamber is higher than the pressure of the fluid in whichthe unit is submerged, as the weight of the heavy piston 41,supplemented by the submergence pressure on its upper side throughopenings 61, acts on the oil in reservoir 43 which in turn, throughbreathing member 54, controls 45 the pressure in the motor chamber.

It will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that lubricantunder pressure is necessary for the prolonged operation of the powerheadmechanism. It is also necessary that the pressure on the inside of theunit be higher y'than the submergence pressure to prevent access ofendangering corrosive well fluid to such parts of the mechanism as themotor, gears and stems I8 or through loose joints or the like..

With our improved-combination of elements wherein the same piston isemployed for maintaining both the lubricant and the insulating oil underthe same pressure but in separate compartments and wherein thelubricating chamber houses the breathing element for the motor, we haveprovided a compact and eiiicient structure for insuring not only theproper lubrication of the working parts of a. duplex pump mechanism,

,but the protection of such mechanism from the deleterious effect whichwould otherwise result from the access of submergence iluid.

Furthermore, this arrangement permits 'the eiicient and convenient useof a high speed vertical electric motor located below the pump forproducing a reciprocating motion of the pump stems. 4

Also the particular arrangement of hollow plungers 20 carrying thetravelling valves 2| per- 75 mits the construction of a pump chamberwith a minimum dead space between the travelling valves 2| and standingvvalves 25. In other words, it

allows the handling of gaseous liquids under a high compression ratiocomparable to that of high pressure gas compressors.

From the foregoing it is believed that this invention may be readilyunderstood by those skilled in the art Without further description, itbeing borne in mind that numerous changes may' be made in the detailsdisclosed, Without departing from the spirit of the invention as setforth in the following claims.

We claim:

1. In combination, a submergible electrically driven reciprocating pumpunit for oil wells, an oil lled motor unit below said pump unit, an oilnlled transmission unit between said pump and motor units, means foroperatively connecting said transmission unit to said pump andmotor.units, a separate oil iilled lubricating unit interposed between saidmotor unit and transmission unit for supplying lubricant to said motorand transmission units, means for securing said units together in axialalignment, and means for creating a pressure in said lubricating unitgreater than the submergence pressure.

2. In combination, a submergible electrically driven reciprocating pumpunit for oil wells, an oil 'lledmotor unit below said pump unit, an oillled transmission unit between said pump and motor units, means foroperatively connecting said transmission unit to said pump and motorunits, a separate oil filled lubricating unit interposed between saidmotor unit and transmission unit for supplying lubricant to said motorand transmission units, means for securing said units together in axialalignment, means for creating a pressure in said lubricating unitgreater than the submergence pressure, and a breather member arranged insaid lubricating unit in communication with said motor unit andresponsive to the pressure in said lubricating unit.

3. In combination, a submergible electrically driven reciprocating pumpunit for oil wells, an oil filled motor unit below said pump unit,

4an oil iilled transmission unit between said pump and motor units,means for operatively connecting said transmission unit to said pump andmotor units, a separate oil filled lubricating unit comprising acylindrical chamber interposed between said motor and transmission unitsfor supplying lubricant to said motor and transmission units, a weightedpiston in said chamber, means for placing the area of said chamber abovesaid piston in communication with the exterior of said chamber, wherebythe w'ei'ght of said piston supplemented by the submergence pressure,creates a pressure in said lubricating unit greater than the submergencepressure, and means for securing said units together in axial alignment.

4.- The combination as claimed in claim 3 including a breather memberarranged in said lubricating chamber in communication with said motorunit and responsive to the pressure in said lubricating unit.

CHARLEY C.BROWN.

SAMUEL N. VAN WERT.

ARMAIS ARUTUNOFF.

